'We are with you, Venezuela': Houston community rallies after deadly earthquakes

Messages of hope and support cover a wall beside a Venezuelan flag at MetaBox Cargo in Katy, Texas, on Thursday. Lucio Vasquez/The Texas Newsroom hide caption toggle caption Lucio Vasquez/The Texas Newsroom KATY, Texas — Arianna Regardia had just gotten to her mother's house when she saw the news Wednesday night. She saw apartment buildings reduced to heaps of concrete. She saw emergency crews digging through mountains of rubble, trying to reach people trapped deep within. She saw the devastation wrought by two powerful earthquakes that struck Venezuela's northern coast just hours earlier. Regardia immediately called her grandmother, who lives in the capital of Caracas, near the epicenter of the quakes. After a few seconds on the phone, she got an answer on the other side of the line. Her family was safe. But relief quickly gave way to a different feeling: the need to help. About 12 hours later, Regardia stood in a narrow cargo garage in this city about 30 minutes west of Houston, where bags of canned tuna, diapers and Advil lined the floor as volunteers sorted donations into cardboard boxes. Regardia arrived Thursday morning to drop off hygiene items like pads, tampons and body soap. But shortly after, she was helping pack boxes as more and more donations came in. "One thing I admire about being Venezuelan is our resilience," Regardia said, as tears welled in her eyes. …